Target Chip Ganassi Racing Returns to Classic “Lightning Bolt” Livery for 2016
INDIANAPOLIS (February 2, 2016) – Target Chip Ganassi Racing (TCGR) announced today the return of the team’s classic “Lightning Bolt” livery to the No. 9 Target Chevrolet driven by four-time and reigning Verizon IndyCar Series Champion Scott Dixon for the 2016 season.
The Target Lightning Bolt livery debuted in 1995 at the season-opening race at Homestead-Miami Speedway with drivers Jimmy Vasser and Bryan Herta, and ran through the 2001 season-finale at California Speedway with drivers Bruno Junqueira and Memo Gidley. The livery reached a fever pitch in the mid-1990s when drivers Vasser (1996), Alex Zanardi (1997-1998) and Juan Pablo Montoya (1999) accomplished the first-ever four-peat in Indy car racing history by winning four-consecutive Championships. Shortly after, Montoya put the Lightning Bolt livery in victory lane at the Indianapolis 500 in 2000 for Target’s first win in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. To commemorate Montoya’s return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Target, the paint scheme also made a one-off return in 2009 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Brickyard 400.
NOTES OF INTEREST:
- Target Chip Ganassi Racing: Scott Dixon returns to TCGR seeking his fifth championship in the No. 9 Target Chevrolet in his 16th season with TCGR – the longest tenure for a driver in team history. Dixon, the series’ active leader in wins, is fifth on the all-time Indy car wins list with 38 after posting three victories and winning his fourth Championship in 2016. TCGR is an 11-time Verizon IndyCar Series Champion team with 99 victories, 85 pole positions and four wins in the Indianapolis 500. The team will celebrate its 27th year of partnership with Target in 2016.
TCGR QUOTEBOARD:
Steve Lauletta, President, Chip Ganassi Racing Teams: “Heading into such an historic season with the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500, the Lightning Bolt paint scheme taps into some of the most memorable times in Target’s longstanding partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing. Scott Dixon will be carrying a big part of history with him in the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season, not only as the four-time and defending Champion for Team Target, but with the livery of past Target Champions such as Vasser, Zanardi and Montoya from a very special era in Target’s racing history.”
About Target
Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) serves guests at 1,805 stores and at Target.com. Since 1946, Target has given 5 percent of its profit to communities, which today equals more than $4 million a week. For more information, visit Target.com/Pressroom. For a behind-the-scenes look at Target, visit Target.com/abullseyeview or follow @TargetNews on Twitter.
About Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
Chip Ganassi has been a fixture in the auto racing industry for over 25 years and is considered one of the most successful as well as innovative owners the sport has anywhere in the world. Today his teams include four cars in the Verizon IndyCar Series, two cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, one car in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, two factory Ford GT’s in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, two factory Ford GT’s in the FIA World Endurance Championship and two Supercars in Red Bull Global Rallycross. Overall his teams have 18 championships and 170 victories, including four Indianapolis 500s, a Daytona 500, a Brickyard 400 and six Rolex 24 At Daytonas and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Ganassi boasts state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis and Concord, N.C., with a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Penn.
